


Things That Should’ve Been Said

by sxftpesy



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: F/M, Rape Aftermath, Supportive Bonnie, laurel can just piss off I hate her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sxftpesy/pseuds/sxftpesy
Summary: Frank gets home after his evening in the car with Laurel and doesn’t know how to feel. However, Bonnie does. Bonnie knows the feeling very well.
Relationships: Frank Delfino/Bonnie Winterbottom, Laurel Castillo/Frank Delfino
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Things That Should’ve Been Said

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll never forgive the show for not addressing what Laurel did to Frank in season 4. So this is what happens when you give a survivor a notes app at 3am.
> 
> Obviously this is set during that time so winterfino weren’t (dead) a couple etc.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING

Frank walks through the front door, throwing his keys into a bowl on the counter.

“Hey, how’s your mom?” Bonnie calls out from the couch, only her head peeking out from the top.

Frank looks at her with a blank expression for a few seconds, forgetting his own lies.

“Fine, yeah”

He makes a beeline for the kitchen, downing a shot of bourbon before pouring himself an actual measure. 

“You okay, Frank?” Bonnie shouts from the living room. Frank continues staring blankly at his drink.

“Frank?”

His head snaps up, Bonnie pulling him out of his zombie like state. He walks into the living room and sits down on the single chair next to the couch.

“What’s going on?”

“Something...” he stares off again, until Bonnie puts her hand on his knee. He flinches suddenly.

“Ok you’re worrying me now” Bonnie takes back her hand.

“Something just happened and I don’t know how to feel about it... with Laurel”

Bonnie scoffs.

“So she was who you were with, not your mother”

He hangs his head in shame, memories of their phone call coming back.

“All that time I was stressed, ranting to you about how much work she’d left me to do, you were right next to her? Let me guess, the sex was more important?” 

He looks back up at the mention of sex, an almost scared look in his eye.

“Bon -“

“No, you know what, I don’t care”

Bonnie started to walk away, squeezing herself through the gap between the couch and the chair Frank currently sat in. He tries to grab her arm as she goes but she shakes him off.

“Bon please”

“I’m going to bed”

As Bonnie begins to ascend up the stairs, Frank stands and blurts out his thoughts, his speech faster than ever.

“I think Laurel just raped me”

Bonnie stops dead in her tracks and turns to face him as he slowly sits back down.

“What?” her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Bonnie takes a seat back in the spot she was in less than a minute ago.

“Frank... What actually happened? Talk me through it”

“I-I-I-“ he stammers. “I don’t know, exactly, I mean... I... I said I didn’t mean...”

“Slow down” Bonnie reaches out for Frank’s hand to support him.

Frank closes his eyes, taking a few breaths to steady himself. 

“She was worried about being a mom and I told her I’d be there for her. I said whatever she needed... I didn’t mean it like that, but... I don’t know. I mean isn’t it different for guys anyway”

“Says who?”

“Just something I’ve always heard”

“No, that’s bullshit”

“What about when you’d usually want to have sex with the person anyway”

“Frank... if you said no to her, and she carried on... whether or not you two have a history or you still like her, whatever. That is still -“

Frank cuts her off, not wanting to hear that word again. 

“I know”

The pair sit in silence for a short period of time, Bonnie waiting for Frank to make the next move.

“I didn’t say no. I told her to wait and said that I didn’t mean sex, but I didn’t say no”

“Frank that’s as good as. She should’ve known that”

“It’s just pregnancy hormones”

“That’s not an excuse”

“She didn’t mean it, Bon”

“Frank. It’s rape.” Bonnie replies sternly, her volume a little higher than before. “I get why you’re trying to defend her. You love her. And by not accepting it, it makes it feel less real. I know that. But it is real, Frank” she softens.

“She put her hand over my mouth, told me to just take it. I could’ve fought her off but -“

“Stop it”

“My body obviously wanted it even if my mind wasn’t there”

“That doesn’t come into it”

“No? Then how come I got hard? How come I still managed to -“ Frank shudders, feeling more and more nauseous by the minute. He takes another deep breath to steady himself. “I came. And it felt good. And afterwards I was wondering when I’d be able to sleep with her again. But then I started driving back and my mind just...”

“It’s biology, you had no control over your body doing that. And afterwards it was probably just the dopamine in your brain from the orgasm. But biology does not equal consent. Neither does love, or being in a relationship, or being pregnant or just generally fucking horny, Frank... You need to talk to her about this”

“I can’t. I just wanna forget about it. At least for now” Frank sounds exhausted.

“She can’t get away with it, Frank” 

Frank simply nods, having ran out of words to say. Bonnie understands it all too well. 

Bonnie begins tracing her thumb along his in comfort.

“You should take a hot bath, or shower, whichever you’d prefer, and get into bed, try and get some rest. I’ll stay with you tonight if you want”

“You don’t have to”

The tiniest smirk appears on Bonnie’s face.

“I know I don’t, I have a perfectly good bed of my own I quite like. But I want to” she grips his hand even tighter.

Frank nods, smiling sadly at her. His smile disappears of a sudden though, a look of worry replacing it spread across his face.

“I’m sorry if this brought up any bad memories, are you ok?”

Bonnie smiles, lightly shaking her head. 

“You’ve just gone through hell and you’re still putting other people first”

Once Bonnie realises there’d be no reaction from Frank to her statement, she stands up, attempting to pull Frank up with her.

“Come on, I’ll run you a bath”

Frank gets to his feet and makes his way towards the stairs, head of Bonnie.

“Frank, wait”

He turns around to see Bonnie stood with her arms wide open.

He find his way into her arms and feels his body relax a little for the first time in hours.

He feels safe.


End file.
